Actor, musician and host
Jai Rodriguez was born on June 22, 1979 in Brentwood, New York. He is of Puerto Rican and Italian decent. Jai started joining gospel choirs at age 11 and held on to his passion for music since then. He studied musical theater at the Boces Cultural Arts Center.
Jai played cross-dresser Angel in the Tony award-winning musical Rent. He also landed the lead role of the magical matchmaker Zanna in Zanna, Don't! His other theatre credits include Spinning Into Butter, which was performed at the Lincoln Center, and The Producers, in which he portrayed Carmen Ghia.
His single “Love is Good” was released in 2003. In 2005, he conceptualized and starred in his one night stage show Jai Rodriguez: xPosed.
On TV, Jai Rodriguez is most famous for being the Culture Vulture on Bravo's Emmy award-winning reality program
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. His role was to give advices on popular culture, personal relationships and social interaction. He was also seen on shows
All My Children and
One Life to Live . On
Nip/Tuck , he was chosen for the character of Chaz Darling. Jai co-hosted Style Network's Ultimate Style and judged Shower Power and The Jury. He was also a contestant on FOX's
Celebrity Duets , where he became the fifth person eliminated from the show.
In 2005, he was cast as Sabu the Houseboy in the film adaptation of The Producers. He also appeared as a drag queen in the comedy movie The New Guy.
Jai Rodriguez is a prom committee member on ABC Family's reality show
America's Prom Queen , where 10 high school girls live together in a mansion and compete against each other in a series of challenges that will test their “prom queen mettle.” The contestants face weekly elimination rounds and attend a featured prom at the end of the show.
(Image courtesy of ABC Family)